Plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) is a process used to deposit thin films on a substrate. A plasma source is used to generate plasma that can be used to activate a precursor material on or near the substrate. PECVD systems are well suited for the deposition of metal oxides as a majority of the precursors used readily react with oxygen.
German Patent DE19928053 describes a 50 kHz plasma source that uses of a pair of electrodes that are configured to operate as a cold cathode with the electrodes being biased as alternating cathodes and anodes. Such a plasma source can make use of an alternating current (AC) or bipolar pulse DC power supplies. However, in some applications (especially applications where a high energy ion beam is needed) the electrode switching provided in such a plasma source might not create an ion flux with sufficient energy levels for the application.